BARANGAY Ginebra went to a three-guard line-up in the final moments of Game 6 in a desperate move which helped the Gin Kings force a rubber match for a spot in the PBA 49th Season Philippine Cup Finals.
The trio of Scottie Thompson, LA Tenorio, and RJ Abarrientos were on the floor at the same time in the fourth quarter when the Gin Kings went on a run capped by Tenorio's game-winning three-pointer with 3.1 seconds left.
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Ginebra coach Tim Cone said the three-guard line-up was not part of the game plan as initially, Abarrientos was supposed to take the place of Tenorio. But with Tenorio playing well, Cone was prompted to keep the Ginebra veteran in the game.
“I’ll be honest, we were originally going to take LA out, but he made a three, and then he made another play. It was like, we can’t take him out at this point. And RJ and Scottie were sitting at the scorers’ table, and so we said, 'Go in for somebody else.' And they went in, and we ended up playing with three guards,” Cone said.
Cone said what made the three-guard line-up work was they were able to grab crucial rebounds during the time they were there.
“The key was that these guys all got down and dirty, got rebounds. Scottie and RJ and LA all got inside and competed for the rebounds, and that’s what we really needed more than anything at that point,” said Cone.
“Because if we could score but if we didn't make stops and get rebounds, then the scoring would be useless. So that's what I liked about that three-guard rotation, is that they really got down and dirty and came into paint and really battled against June Mar, Brondial, and Trollano, and all those guys in there,” said Cone.
Will we see that three-guard line-up again?
We will find out in Game 7.
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